View source for Philosophy:Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

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[[Image:Dionysiou Monastery Codex 90.jpg|thumb|right|Dionysiou monastery, codex 90, a 13th-century manuscript containing selections from Herodotus, Plutarch and (shown here) Diogenes Laertius]]
'''''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers''''' ({{lang-grc-gre|Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων}}; {{lang-la|Vitae Philosophorum}}) is a biography of the Greek philosophers by [[Biography:Diogenes Laërtius|Diogenes Laërtius]], written in [[Social:Ancient Greek|Greek]], perhaps in the first half of the third century AD.

==Overview==
The ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' was written in Greek and professes to give an account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers. The work doesn't have an exact title in the manuscripts and appears in various lengthy forms.

Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages, led [[Biography:Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]] to write that he wished that instead of one Laërtius there had been a dozen.<ref>Montaigne, ''Essays'' II.10 [http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm "Of Books"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214161140/http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm |date=2009-02-14 }}.</ref> On the other hand, modern scholars have advised that we treat Diogenes' testimonia with care, especially when he fails to cite his sources: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy".{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xix}}

==Organization of the work==
Laërtius treats his subject in two divisions which he describes as the Ionian and the Italian schools. The biographies of the former begin with [[Biography:Anaximander|Anaximander]], and end with [[Biography:Clitomachus (philosopher)|Clitomachus]], [[Biography:Theophrastus|Theophrastus]] and [[Biography:Chrysippus|Chrysippus]]; the latter begins with [[Biography:Pythagoras|Pythagoras]], and ends with [[Biography:Epicurus|Epicurus]]. The [[Biography:Socrates#Legacy|Socratic school]], with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the Eleatics and sceptics are treated under the Italic. He also includes his own poetic verse, albeit pedestrian, about the philosophers he discusses.
<center>
{|border="0" style="border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#FFFFFF"
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|'''Books 1–7: Ionian Philosophy'''
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 1: The [[Philosophy:Seven Sages of Greece|Seven Sages]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|Thales, [[Biography:Solon|Solon]], [[Biography:Chilon of Sparta|Chilon]], [[Biography:Pittacus of Mytilene|Pittacus]], Bias, Cleobulus, [[Biography:Periander|Periander]], [[Biography:Anacharsis|Anacharsis]], [[Biography:Myson of Chenae|Myson]], [[Biography:Epimenides|Epimenides]], [[Biography:Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 2: Socrates, with predecessors and followers
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Anaximander|Anaximander]], [[Biography:Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]], [[Biography:Anaxagoras|Anaxagoras]], [[Biography:Archelaus (philosopher)|Archelaus]], [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]], [[Biography:Xenophon|Xenophon]], [[Biography:Aeschines of Sphettus|Aeschines]], [[Biography:Aristippus|Aristippus]], [[Biography:Phaedo of Elis|Phaedo]], [[Biography:Euclid of Megara|Euclides]], [[Biography:Stilpo|Stilpo]], Crito, [[Biography:Simon the Shoemaker|Simon]], Glaucon, [[Biography:Simmias of Thebes|Simmias]], [[Biography:Cebes|Cebes]], [[Biography:Menedemus|Menedemus of Eretria]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 3: Plato
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Plato|Plato]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 4: The [[Philosophy:Platonic Academy|Academy]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Speusippus|Speusippus]], [[Biography:Xenocrates|Xenocrates]], [[Biography:Polemon (scholarch)|Polemo]], [[Biography:Crates of Athens|Crates of Athens]], [[Biography:Crantor|Crantor]], [[Philosophy:Arcesilaus|Arcesilaus]], [[Biography:Bion of Borysthenes|Bion]], [[Philosophy:Lacydes of Cyrene|Lacydes]], [[Philosophy:Carneades|Carneades]], [[Biography:Clitomachus (philosopher)|Clitomachus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 5: The Peripatetics
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotle]], [[Biography:Theophrastus|Theophrastus]], [[Biography:Strato of Lampsacus|Strato]], [[Biography:Lyco of Troas|Lyco]], Demetrius, [[Biography:Heraclides Ponticus|Heraclides]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 6: The [[Philosophy:Cynicism|Cynics]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Antisthenes|Antisthenes]], Diogenes of Sinope, [[Biography:Monimus|Monimus]], [[Biography:Onesicritus|Onesicritus]], [[Biography:Crates of Thebes|Crates of Thebes]], [[Biography:Metrocles|Metrocles]], [[Biography:Hipparchia of Maroneia|Hipparchia]], [[Biography:Menippus|Menippus]], [[Biography:Menedemus the Cynic|Menedemus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 7: The Stoics
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Zeno of Citium|Zeno of Citium]], [[Biography:Aristo of Chios|Aristo]], [[Biography:Herillus|Herillus]], [[Biography:Dionysius the Renegade|Dionysius]], [[Biography:Cleanthes|Cleanthes]], [[Biography:Sphaerus|Sphaerus]], [[Biography:Chrysippus|Chrysippus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|'''Books 8–10: Italian Philosophy'''
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 8: [[Philosophy:Pythagoreanism|Pythagoreans]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Pythagoras|Pythagoras]], [[Biography:Empedocles|Empedocles]], Epicharmus, [[Biography:Archytas|Archytas]], [[Biography:Alcmaeon of Croton|Alcmaeon]], [[Hippasus]], [[Biography:Philolaus|Philolaus]], [[Biography:Eudoxus of Cnidus|Eudoxus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 9: Uncategorized (Eleatics, [[Philosophy:Atomism|Atomists]], [[Philosophy:Pyrrhonism|Skeptics]], etc.)
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]], [[Biography:Xenophanes|Xenophanes]], [[Biography:Parmenides|Parmenides]], [[Biography:Melissus of Samos|Melissus]], [[Biography:Zeno of Elea|Zeno of Elea]], [[Biography:Leucippus|Leucippus]], [[Biography:Democritus|Democritus]], [[Biography:Protagoras|Protagoras]], [[Biography:Diogenes of Apollonia|Diogenes of Apollonia]], [[Biography:Anaxarchus|Anaxarchus]], [[Biography:Pyrrho|Pyrrho]], [[Biography:Timon of Phlius|Timon]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 10: Epicurus
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Biography:Epicurus|Epicurus]]
|}
</center>

The work contains incidental remarks on many other philosophers, and there are useful accounts concerning [[Biography:Hegesias of Cyrene|Hegesias]], [[Biography:Anniceris|Anniceris]], and [[Biography:Theodorus the Atheist|Theodorus]] ([[Philosophy:Cyrenaics|Cyrenaics]]);{{sfn|Laërtius|1925b|loc=§ 93–104}} [[Biography:Persaeus|Persaeus]] (Stoic);{{sfn|Laërtius|1925c|loc=§ 36}} and [[Biography:Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger)|Metrodorus]] and [[Biography:Hermarchus|Hermarchus]] (Epicureans).{{sfn|Laërtius|1925d|loc=§ 22–26}} Book VII is incomplete and breaks off during the life of Chrysippus. From a table of contents in one of the manuscripts (manuscript P), this book is known to have continued with [[Biography:Zeno of Tarsus|Zeno of Tarsus]], [[Biography:Diogenes of Babylon|Diogenes]], [[Biography:Apollodorus of Seleucia|Apollodorus]], [[Biography:Boethus of Sidon (Stoic)|Boethus]], Mnesarchides, Mnasagoras, Nestor, [[Biography:Basilides (Stoic)|Basilides]], [[Biography:Dardanus of Athens|Dardanus]], [[Biography:Antipater of Tarsus|Antipater]], Heraclides, [[Biography:Sosigenes (Stoic)|Sosigenes]], [[Biography:Panaetius|Panaetius]], [[Biography:Hecato of Rhodes|Hecato]], [[Biography:Posidonius|Posidonius]], [[Biography:Athenodoros Cordylion|Athenodorus]], another Athenodorus, [[Biography:Antipater of Tyre|Antipater]], [[Biography:Arius Didymus|Arius]], and [[Biography:Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]]. The whole of Book X is devoted to Epicurus, and contains three long letters written by Epicurus, which explain Epicurean doctrines.

His chief authorities were [[Philosophy:Favorinus|Favorinus]] and Diocles of Magnesia, but his work also draws (either directly or indirectly) on books by Antisthenes of Rhodes, Alexander Polyhistor, and Demetrius of Magnesia, as well as works by Hippobotus, [[Biography:Aristippus|Aristippus]], [[Biography:Panaetius|Panaetius]], [[Biography:Apollodorus of Athens|Apollodorus of Athens]], Sosicrates, [[Biography:Satyrus the Peripatetic|Satyrus]], Sotion, Neanthes, [[Biography:Hermippus of Smyrna|Hermippus]], Antigonus, Heraclides, [[Biography:Hieronymus of Rhodes|Hieronymus]], and Pamphila<ref>[[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]], [https://archive.org/details/gesammeltewerke01nietuoft ''Gesammelte Werke''], 1920, p. 363.</ref>{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxi}}

==Manuscript editions==
There are many extant manuscripts of the ''Lives'', although none of them are especially old, and they all descend from a common ancestor, because they all lack the end of Book VII.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxv}} The three most useful manuscripts are known as B, P, and F. Manuscript B (''Codex Borbonicus'') dates from the 12th century, and is in the National Library of Naples.{{efn|The statement by Robert Hicks (1925) that "the scribe obviously knew no Greek",{{sfn|Hicks|1925|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }} was later rejected by Herbert Long. The more recent opinion of Tiziano Dorandi, however, is that the scribe had "little knowledge of Greek ... and limited himself to reproducing it in a mechanical way exactly as he managed to decipher it". A few years later an "anonymous corrector" with good knowledge of Greek rectified "many errors or readings that, rightly or wrongly, he considered erroneous" {{harv|Dorandi|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}}}}.}} Manuscript P (''Paris'') is dated to the 11th/12th century, and is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }} Manuscript F (''Florence'') is dated to the 13th century, and is in the Laurentian Library.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }} The titles for the individual biographies used in modern editions are absent from these earliest manuscripts, however they can be found inserted into the blank spaces and margins of manuscript P by a later hand.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }}

There seem to have been some early [[Social:Latin|Latin]] translations, but they no longer survive. A 10th-century work entitled ''Tractatus de dictis philosophorum'' shows some knowledge of Diogenes.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxvi}} [[Biography:Henry Aristippus|Henry Aristippus]], in the 12th century, is known to have translated at least some of the work into Latin, and in the 14th century an unknown author made use of a Latin translation for his ''De vita et moribus philosophorum''{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxvi}} (attributed erroneously to [[Biography:Walter Burley|Walter Burley]]).

==Printed editions==
[[Image:Laertii Diogenis De Vitis Dogmatis et Apophthegmatis Eorum Qui in Philosophia Claruerunt.jpg|right|thumb|Title page of an edition in Greek and Latin, 1594]]
The first printed editions were Latin translations. The first, ''Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt'' (Romae: Giorgo Lauer, 1472), printed the translation of Ambrogio Traversari (whose manuscript presentation copy to Cosimo de' Medici was dated February 8, 1433{{sfn|Mare|1992|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }}) and was edited by Elio Francesco Marchese.{{sfn|Tolomio|1993|pp=154, ff}} The [[Social:Greek language|Greek]] text of the lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus appeared in the third volume of the Aldine Aristotle in 1497. The first edition of the whole Greek text was that published by Hieronymus Froben in 1533.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxiv}} The Greek/Latin edition of 1692 by Marcus Meibomius divided each of the ten books into paragraphs of equal length, and progressively numbered them, providing the system still in use today.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }}

The first critical edition of the entire text, by H.S. Long in the Oxford Classical Texts, was not produced until 1964;{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxv}} this edition was superseded by Miroslav Marcovich's Teubner edition, published between 1999 and 2002. A new edition, by Tiziano Dorandi, was published by {{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-philosophy/diogenes-laertius-lives-eminent-philosophers |title=Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers| publisher=Cambridge University Press |accessdate= 14 March 2014}}</ref>

==English translations==
The first complete English translation was a late 17th-century translation by ten different persons.<ref>{{harvnb|Fetherstone ''et al''|1688|loc=Volume 1}}, Volume 2 (published 1696).</ref> A better translation was made by Charles Duke Yonge (1853),{{sfn|Youge|1853}} but although this was more literal, it still contained many inaccuracies.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xiii}} The next translation was by Robert Drew Hicks (1925) for the Loeb Classical Library,{{sfn|Laërtius|1925}} although it is slightly bowdlerized. A new translation by Pamela Mensch was published by [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius|
publisher=Oxford University Press|
access-date=22 May 2018|
url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/lives-of-the-eminent-philosophers-9780190862176}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

==See also==
* ''Lives of the Sophists''
* Mochus
* ''Successions of Philosophers''

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Dorandi |editor1-first=Tiziano |publication-date=2013 |title=Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers |chapter=Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521886813 |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |contributor-last=Hicks |contributor-first=Robert Drew |year=1925 |contribution=Introduction" |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers |translator-last=Hicks |translator-first=Robert Drew |translator-link=Robert Drew Hicks |edition=reprint |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |contribution-url=http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/diogenes_laertius.htm |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |year=1688 |translator-last=Fetherstone |translator-first=T. |translator2-last=White |translator2-first=Sam. |translator3-last=Smith |translator3-first=E. |translator4-last=Philips |translator4-first=J. |translator5-last=Kippax |translator5-first=R. |translator6-last=Baxter |translator6-first=William |translator7-last=M. |translator7-first=R. |title=The lives, opinions, and remarkable sayings of the most famous ancient philosophers. The first volume written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius ; made English by several hands |edition=2 volumes |volume=1 |location=London |publisher=Edward Brewster |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36037.0001.001?view=toc |ref={{harvid |Fetherstone et al |1688}} }}
*{{cite book |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |translator-last=Yonge |translator-first=Charles Duke |year=1853 |title=Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers |location=London |publisher=G.H. Bohn |url=https://archive.org/details/livesandopinions00dioguoft |ref={{harvid |Youge |1853}} }}
*{{cite LotEP |year=1925  |chapter=Index |ref=harv}}
*{{cite LotEP |year=1925b |chapter=Aristippus |§=65–104 |ref=harv}}<!--Book II-->
*{{cite LotEP |year=1925c |chapter=Zeno|§=1–160 |ref=harv}}<!--Book VII-->
*{{cite LotEP |year=1925d |chapter=Epicurus ||§=1–154 |ref=harv}}<!--Book X-->
*{{cite book |contributor-last=Long |contributor-first=Herbert S. |year=1972 |origyear=1925 |contribution=Introduction" |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers |translator-last=Hicks |translator-first=Robert Drew |translator-link=Robert Drew Hicks |edition=reprint |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=de la Mare |first=Albinia Catherine |year=1992 |chapter=Cosimo and his Books |editor-first=F. |editor-last=Ames-Lewis |title=Cosimo 'il Vecchio' de' Medici, 1389–1464 |location=Oxford |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=Tolomio |first=Ilario |year=1993 |chapter=Editions of Diogenes Laertius in the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries |editor-first=G. |editor-last=Santinello |editor2=et al. |title=Models of the History of Philosophy |volume=1 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Kluwer |pages=154, ff. |ref=harv}}

==External links==

*[http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/dl/dl.html Ancient Greek text of Diogenes' ''Lives'']
*[http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/diogenes_laertius.htm Article on the Manuscript versions] at the Tertullian Project
*[http://www.ontology.co/biblio/diogenes-laertius-biblio.htm A bibliography on the ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'']
*[http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.0251.1 ''Libro de la vita de philosophi et delle loro elegantissime sentencie''] From the Collections at the Library of Congress
* {{librivox book | title=The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers | author=Diogenes LAERTIUS}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lives And Opinions Of Eminent Philosophers}}
[[Category:Philosophy books]]

{{Sourceattribution|Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers|1}}